Switch tongue



Sept. 29, 1925. 1,555,303

H. E. MILLER SWITCH TONGUE Filed June 5. 1925 fia'nesses: Inventor:

Patented Sept. 29, 1925.

UNITED STATES HOWARD E. MILLER, 01 JOHNSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

SWITCH TONGUE.

Application filed. June 3, 1925. Serial' No. 34,658.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HOWARD E. MILLER, a citizen of the United States,and resident of J ohnstown, in the county of Cambria and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSwitch Tongues, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to tongue switches and more particularly to thetongues for such switches, and has for its object the provision of anovel heel pin in the heel portion of the tongues, which pin may bemanufactured separate from the tongue and, therefore, have a betterfinish and be of greater strength than the cast pins formed integralwith the cast tongues.

Another object is to provide a tongue switch having the novelconstruction, design and combination of parts hereinafter described andillustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Switch tongues of the class to which this invention belongs aregenerally cast from manganese steel and heretofore the heel pins havebeen cast integral therewith, and considerable difliculty has beenexperienced in getting a good finish on the pins, and also on the baseof the tongues for the area adjacent to the pins, and also due to thefact that in casting such a small projection on such a large mass it wasdificult to cast perfect pins. A great percentage of the tongues castwere found to have defective pins and were necessarily scrapped.

Another difficulty is encountered in the casting of switch tongues withintegral cast pins, which arises from the fact that manga nese castings,as they come out of the sand and before heat treatment, require to becleaned; that is, the loose sand is removed and the nail heads, fins andother extraneous matter attached to the castings have to be chipped orknocked off with a hammer. At this stage manganese steel is exceedinglybrittle and readily breaks, Therefore, during the cleaning process theheel pin is very often broken off accidentally and, of course, destroysthe whole tongue.

All of the above difficulties are overcome and eliminated by the presentinvention and a pin having a higher finish and of exceedingly greaterstrength is provided.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan of a portion of a switch structure embodying myinvention.

,usual tread and guard surfaces. The body portion 2 is provided with anelongated recess or tongue bed 3 having an enlarged circular recess 3*to receive the heel 4 of the switch tongue 5.

The heel portion 4 of the tongue 5 is provided with a pin A which ispreferably forged to shape from a low carbon steel and machined orotherwise finished. The pin A has a flat square head portion 9 on itsinner or upper end and is mounted in the mold prior to the casting ofthe tongue, so that the head portion will be surrounded by the metal ofthe tongue, and, therefore, forms an integral part of the cast tongue.

As is well known the heat treatment of manganese steel calls for heatingthe raw cast manganese steel to a high temperature, approximating 1850degrees Fahrenheit, and quenching in cold water. Therefore, it isespecially important to limit the steel pins A to a low carbon, to guardagainst. undue hardening of the carbon steel pins during the heattreating process.

The pins A have a shank or stem portion 10 and a base portion 11.

The pin A is adapted to hold the tongue in perfect bearing in the heelreceiving portion 3) of the tongue bed 3 under conditions of snow, iceor mud. The pin projects through an orifice 12 in the portion 3 of thebed 3, into a recess 13 below the tongue bed. Mounted within this recess13 is a lever 14, which is fulcrumed on a projection 15 on the switchbody 2. One end of the lever 14, is provided with a fork 16, and theopposite end 17 is provided with a boss which is threaded to receive ascrew 18 having a jam nut 19. The forked end 16 of the lever 14 isengaged around the shank or stem 10 of the pin A.

When the parts are assembled the screw 18 is screwed down to its properplace of adjustment and locked by the jam nut 19. As will be readilyunderstood from the drawings, the screw 18 has a tendency to raise theone end of the lever 14, thereby depressing the forked end 16, and withit the heel 4 of the tongue 5.

The advantages of this novel construction of switch tongue will bereadily appreciated by those skilled in the art, since it eliminates oneof the greatest causes of imperfect castings, it provides a materiallystronger construction and is less likely to breakage duringtransportation or in use.

I claim:

1. A cast steel switch tongue having a heel portion, and a forged steeltongue securing pin formed separate from said tongue and permanentlysecured to the heel portion by casting the tongue around the pin. V

2. A cast manganese steel switch tongue having a heel portion, and aforged low carbon steel tongue securing pin formed separate from saidtongue, said pin being provided with an enlarged head portion, and beingpermanently secured to the heel portion by casting the tongue around thepin so that the head of said pin is entirely surrounded by the castmetal of the tongue.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

HOXVARD E. MILLER.

Ill)

